Skip to main content
By

Budget funding, our biggest problem – Udoma

Funding is the greatest challenge the current administration is facing in implementing budgets, the Minister of Budget and National Planning Sen. Udoma Udo Udoma has said.
Speaking yesterday at the public presentation of the 2018 Appropriation Bill in Abuja, the minister told the stakeholders that the government is constrained in implementing key projects in the past due to the revenue shortfall.
“The primary problem of this country is revenue, what we have is revenue problem and that is why we are doing everything possible to increase our revenue collections.”
He said the federal government is expecting available revenue of N6.6 trillion for the year which is 30 per cent above the 2017 projection of  N5.0tr.
Udoma explained that the collection of the Value Added Tax (VAT) and Company Income Tax (CIT) will drop by 14 and 2 per cent respectively in 2018 compared to 2017.  He explained that in 2017 the government was able to collect the outstanding payments of the two taxes but there is no such provision in 2018 hence the reduction.
Majority of the of the projects in 2017 capital expenditure have to be rolled over to 2018 due to the paucity of fund, saying that 2017 capital budget was meant to be funded by loans from intentional development partners.
He said N450 billon released as at the 31st of October 2017 was only for the four month after passing the budget in May 2017.
 Minister of state for petroleum, Dr Ibe Kachukwu while fielding questions said FG will continue to explore oil in the Northeast because of its obligation to ensure that any part there is any visible sign of oil for exploration, it will follow through.
He noted that the contribution of oil to 2018 budgetary revenue expenditure expectation is almost 60%, “So a huge amount of responsibility still lies on oil.
Also the speaking, the Minister of finance Kemi Adeosun said issue of tax payer’s apathy must be addressed if the nation must move forward.
She said there are about 69million Nigerians currently working in one form of economic activity but only 14 million pay tax in the country.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

By
Obasanjo Warns Buhari Over Maina Scandal 498 Shares Share Tweet Share Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has reacted to the reinstatement and dismissal of a former chairman of the Pension Reform Task Team, Abdulrasheed Maina , stating that the scandal should not have been allowed to occur. Obasanjo said this at the 2017 Foundation Day Public Lecture titled: “Corruption and the Challenges of the African Child”. The lecture was organised to mark the 14th anniversary of Dorcas Oke Hope Alive Initiative (DOHAI), in Ibadan, the Oyo state capital. He also warned Buhari that there must not be any “sacred cows” in the fight against corruption. “Corruption must be punished, and must be seen to be punished. “Any accomplice in corruption and cover-up and any failure to punish must also earn punishment. “We cannot afford to have sacred cows in the fight against corruption. The Maina saga should never ha...
Post a Comment
Read more

The world looks to America to defend press freedom

By
The world looks to America to defend press freedom The world looks to America to defend press freedom Joel Simon is executive director of the Committee to Protect Journalists. The views expressed in this commentary are his own. This is the next installment in the CNN Opinion series on the challenges facing the media, which is under attack from critics, governments and changing technology. (CNN) For a brief period, following more than four decades of military repression, Myanmar saw an explosion of independent media. Beginning in 2011, exiled journalists flooded back into the country and started new publications. They covered the news, criticized the government and contributed to a national debate. But when I visited the country in June as part of a delegation from the Committee to Protect Journalists, I observed serious backsliding. We met with the widow of a murdered journalist. We spoke with editors who told us they worried about going to jail. When we asked the g...
Post a Comment
Read more

Trump truly deserves to be 'Person of the Year'

By
Trump truly deserves to be 'Person of the Year' Dean Obeidallah, a former attorney, is the host of SiriusXM radio's daily program "The Dean Obeidallah Show" and a columnist for The Daily Beast. Follow him  @deanofcomedy . The opinions expressed in this commentary are his. (CNN) Twitter  exploded  Friday night and into Saturday after Donald Trump alleged that he was offered Time magazine's title of "Person of the Year" and Time responded by challenging the President's account of events. Trump tweeted that the magazine wanted him "to agree to an interview and a major photo shoot" before confirming he had won the award. Trump would have none of that, tweeting:  "I said probably is no good and took a pass." A short time later, however, Time responded on Twitter by challenging Trump's account, "The President is incorrect about how we choose Person of the Year. Time does not comment on our choice until public...
Post a Comment
Read more